Jillian Michaels Reveals COVID-19 Diagnosis

Celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels has revealed that she tested positive for the coronavirus. Michaels, a former trainer on The Biggest Loser, opened up about her COVID-19 diagnosis on Tuesday in an interview with Fox Business, during which she offered a warning against “public gyms” amid the pandemic.

Speaking with Fox Business host Liz Claman, Michaels, 46, revealed that she contracted the virus from a friend “several weeks ago.” Thankfully, Michaels was “fortunate to have gone into it being healthy,” and was able to “get on the other side of it pretty quick,” though she acknowledged that “not everyone is that lucky as we know.” She said that before this, she hadn’t spoken about her diagnosis “publicly,” admitting that she was “a person who let my guard down.”

“I literally let my guard down for an hour with one of my best friends who does my hair and makeup and got it,” “Michaels said. “It’s just that simple. So, if you’re not in a mask and that person is not in a mask and they have COVID and have no idea – because by the way I had no idea that I had it for six days and my friend had no idea that she had it when she gave it to me – anticipate that you will likely get it.”

During the interview, Michaels also cautioned people worried about the virus from visiting public gyms even in areas where coronavirus-related restrictions have begun to be lifted. She said, “a public gym is probably a place where you will get it.” She said that “if you are afraid of COVID, you should not go to the gym,” later adding, “you have your own body weight and you can use it in a million different ways, literally, to get a superior workout.”

As of Thursday morning, a Johns Hopkins database recorded more than 27.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, with deaths surpassing 904,000. In the United States alone, there have been more than 6.3 million confirmed cases and 190,000 deaths, with recent predictions expecting these numbers continue to grow by the thousands in the coming months as work continues towards a coronavirus vaccine.

Michaels, meanwhile, is just the latest celebrity to reveal that they have contracted the virus, with her revelation coming just days after Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson revealed that his entire family – wife Lauren Hashian and their two daughters, Jasmine, 4, and Tiana, 2 – had been diagnosed with COVID-19. He, too, said that they contracted the virus from a family friend. He said that it had been “one of the most challenging and difficult things we have ever had to endure as a family, and for me, too,” though he assured fans that “we as a family are good. We’re on the other end of it.”